SAL1 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Game Notes: Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) at Hickory Crawdads (Rangers) - June 23, 2014

Published on June 23, 2014 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers News Release


KANNAPOLIS INTIMIDATORS at HICKORY CRAWDADS

3-1, 32-39 (Chicago White Sox)

4-0, 45-28 (Texas Rangers)

Monday, June 23, 2014 - 7:00 p.m.

L.P. Frans Stadium - Hickory, N.C.

2nd Half Game #5 (72 of 137)

RH Robinson Leyer (4-3, 3.01) vs. RH Akeem Bostick (3-3, 4.08)

Today's Preview: The Intimidators (A, White Sox) ride a 3-game winning streak into L.P. Frans Stadium for a 4-game series against the Crawdads (A, Rangers), which own a 4-game winning streak to open the Second Half. Hickory is coming off a sweep of Rome while the Intimidators took the final three games in Charleston for a series win over the RiverDogs. Hickory leads Kannapolis in the season-series, 9-8, with seven games remaining, however, the Intimidators are 3-3 in games played in Hickory this season. For the Crawdads, this is their first game at L.P. Frans Stadium since hosting the All-Star Game last Tuesday, which ended in a 4-4 tie between the SAL Northern and Southern Divisions.

Intimidating Starters: Robinson Leyer, 21, makes his team-leading 14th start and fourth against Hickory. In three starts against the Crawdads, he is 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA (2 ER/15.2 IP). Leyer has had one of the hottest arms in the Minors since mid-April, going 4-1 with a 1.58 ERA in his last 11 starts, the seventh-best ERA in the full-season minors since April 16. He is coming off four straight quality starts and has allowed one earned run or less in each of his last four outings. So far in June, he is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA (2 ER/20 IP) in three starts. The younger brother of former Intimidator pitcher Euclides Leyer, Robinson spent 2013 with Advanced Rookie Bristol, going 2-7 with a 6.35 ERA in 13 starts. Leyer debuted in 2012 with the DSL White Sox, going 1-4 with a 3.12 ERA in 13 starts.

Prince Akeem: Akeem Bostick, 19, makes his 13th start of the season and third against the Intimidators. He is 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA (4 ER/9 IP) with six strikeouts and two walks in two starts against Kannapolis. Bostick ended the first half with a career outing, working 7.0 full innings of scoreless ball while limiting Delmarva to two hits in a road win on June 9. In his seven home starts, he is 1-1 with a 4.55 ERA while going 2-2 with a 3.51 ERA in five road starts. He entered 2014 rated by Baseball America as one of the Rangers Top 30 Prospects after going 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA in 14 games (six starts) with the AZL Rangers in 2013.

Last Time Out: After the RiverDogs pulled ahead 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Kannapolis plated a pair of ninth inning runs for a 6-5 win in Sunday's series finale against Charleston for a series victory. Nolan Earley went 2-3 with home run (1), two RBI, and two runs scored, while Danny Hayes went 3-4 and scored twice in the win. Jose Brito spun 2.0 relief innings for his first win, and Alex Powers worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the save (1).

Earley Comes Through Late: Nolan Earley followed 9th inning singles by Danny Hayes and Jacob Morris with a 1-out base knock to tie Sunday's game, 5-5, in Charleston. Earley, who also homered in the third inning for an early 1-0 lead, drove in two runs for his first multi-RBI game of the season and seventh of his career. On the same date last season, Earley plated a career-high 4 RBI for Advanced Rookie Bristol (June 22, 2013, vs. Greeneville).

Late Inning Magic: Kannapolis is now 5-11 in games decided in the final at-bats after the 9th-inning rally on Sunday. It's the first win for Kannapolis after being tied through seven innings (1-6) and just the second for the Intimidators when trailing through eight (2-25). The only other win for Kannapolis when trailing after eight innings this season came May 18 against Hickory when the Intimidators trailed 5-3 heading into the eighth. Kannapolis scored a run in the eighth and ninth to tie the game before winning 6-5 in 10 innings.

More Thomore: DH Carl Thomore continued his hot start to the Second Half with a go-ahead 3-run double in the seventh inning on Saturday. Thomore is batting .600 (6-10) with 5 RBI in three games against the RiverDogs. He now has five multi-RBI games, and Saturday was Thomore's first 3-RBI game of 2014 and the seventh of his career, tying a career-high. The White Sox acquired Thomore last May in a trade with the Rockies.

Sit 'Em Down: Left-handers Andre Wheeler and Jordan Guerrero combined to strike out 14 RiverDogs on Saturday while both setting career-highs in strikeouts. Wheeler fanned eight over 4.2 innings as the starter, and Guerrero whiffed six in 4.1 relief innings.

Broadcast: This week's 4-game series in Hickory will be broadcast live on the Kannapolis Intimidators Baseball Network available at IntimidatorsBaseball.com and on the TuneIn Radio App. This season, all 70 home games and select road games will be broadcast by the Voice of the Intimidators, Josh Feldman, now in his fourth season with the team.

Check out the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



South Atlantic League Stories from June 23, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central